GamerNode: Latest Game and Console News

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles gets releas...

Capcom announced today that the Wii-exclusive Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will be shipping to North American retailers on November 17th, 2009. The on-rails first-person shooter is a follow-up to 2007's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

Resident Evil fans can also secure a free bonus t-shirt by pre-ordering the game at GameStop. The "Let Your Darkside Out" shirt features an image of a zombie's face on the inside of the garment, so that when it is flipped over the wearer's head, he or she effectively assumes the role of a Resident Evil zombie. The shirt can also be purchased at Capcom's online store for $24.95.

I kinda want one...

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Best Buy giving free games to stop PS3 returns

Best Buy appears to be implementing a strategy to prevent recent PlayStation 3 buyers from returning their BIG models for the newer, sleeker SLIM model when it becomes available within the next week. How? By giving away free games.

According to an internal memo at Best Buy, consumers wishing to return their consoles (within the 30-day return window) in exchange for the new model will be offered one free game in exchange for keeping their original purchase. The games that available are reportedly inFAMOUS, MLB 09: The Show, and Killzone 2. Customers will still be refunded the $100 difference if they choose to accept this deal, and can of course decline the offer and get their smaller, more energy efficient unit and larger hard drive.

Is a single game worth the compromise? That's up for the i...

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Wii Sports Resort sells 3 million copies worldwide...

Nintendo has announced that the latest Wiimote-waggling first-party title, Wii Sports Resort, has quickly surpassed the one million unit milestone in the three major markets -- Japan, North America, and Europe -- taking global sales past the three million unit mark. The game has been available for two months in Japan; one month in other territories.

Said Nintendo Europe's marketing and PR director Laurent Fischer, "The early sales figures represent a strong start for Wii Sports Resort, which is on its way to becoming another Nintendo title that sells steadily over an extended period of time as opposed to a single flash on its launch day. Combined with strong figures for Wii MotionPlus, the data suggests that more families and friends are playing together than ever before -- which, for Nint...

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PlayStation Network down for maintenance today

Quick! Sign in to PSN before 5:15 EDT or be locked out!

Okay, it's really not THAT urgent, but Sony has announced that the company's online service will be down for maintenance beginning at that time (2:15 PDT, 9:15 GMT), and the downtime will last for roughly four hours. Those who are already signed in when maintenance begins will be able to remain so for the duration, but nobody new will be able to play online, download, etc. until the work is done.

If you want to play online this evening, I suggest you sign in early.

[Kotaku]

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"Reviewers on Reviews" on the Big Red Potion podca...

Over at Big Red Potion, our friends Sinan Kubba and Joe DeLia have posted the latest episode of their podcast, the second in a two-part discussion entitled "Reviewers on Reviews." Particularly exciting about this show is that it features a pair of great guests. One of those guests is Jack Smith, "the engine and encyclopedia" of the WiiDS podcast, and the other is the director of the very website you're reading right now. Yup, that's me, Eddie Inzauto.

It was a very good conversation, as the four of us discussed the importance and relevance of videogame reviews, the critical process, reader expectations, and more. Head over to www.bigredpotion.com and give it a listen... then subscribe to the BRP podcast, right alongside the Versus Node podcast on iTunes.

[Big Red Potion]

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BioShock movie a go, with new director

The future of the proposed BioShock film has been up in the air ever since Universal Studios put the project on hold back in April, citing a growing budget as the primary reason for the postponement. The plan was to rework the script and explore new shooting locations to drive down filming costs, but that strategy has come at a price of its own.

Universal has indeed reworked John Logan's (Gladiator, Aviator, Sweeny Todd) script and arranged for new shooting locations, but in the process has lost the services of director Gore Verbinski (The Mexican, The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy), who was unable to commit to the overseas shooting schedule. Taking his place will be 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Verbinski will assume the role of producer.

[SlashFilm]

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Tatsunoko vs Capcom getting new content just for t...

Fighting game fans, hold on to your face.

You're already excited that Capcom brawler Tatsunoko vs Capcom is heading to American shores next year, but it won't totally be the same...

...there will be more.

GameSpot reports that during their hands-on with the game at Gamescom in Germany, producer Ryoto Niitsuma says that along with online play, four new characters -- two from each side -- will be added to the North American version, and they will be revealed at the Tokyo Game Show in late September. 

With this revelation, let the pondering begin. Who will they add for us Americans? Wesker or Jill? Dante or Vergil? Phoenix Wright or Franziska von Karma? That doesn't even include the Tatsunoko possibilities. 

Samurai Pizza Cats, anyone?

Tatsunoko vs Capcom is due out in late January.

[GameSpot]

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Halo: Reach beta access included in Halo 3: ODST

Bungie has revealed that gamers aiming to get their hands on Halo: Reach prior to its release late next year will be given just that opportunity if they decide to purchase next month's standalone Halo 3 expansion, Halo 3: ODST.

Like the Halo 3 beta that was tucked away inside Realtime Worlds' Crackdown back in 2007, ODST's menu will include an "extras" tab where players can access the Reach beta when it's ready sometime next year. In Bungie's eyes, the beta will be "a big part of the value of the disc." This time, however, it will likely be less of a motivation to purchase the game, as the audience for the two titles is virtually identical.

Halo 3: ODST is scheduled for release on September 22nd.

[Joystiq]

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm scheduled for 2010

In one of the biggest stories to come out of this year's BlizzCon, Mike Morhaime has revealed that World of Warcraft's next expansion, Cataclysm, is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010. The news came during a DirecTV interview with the Blizzard CEO, however no further details regarding the release were given.

Of course a 365-day release window is a little too wide to get excited about -- projections such as these represent only general plans for publishers to come to market with their products -- but at the very least it gives eager WoW fans a little more to look forward to for the coming year.

GamerNode will have more info as it becomes available.

[WoW.com]

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Play Policenauts in English now

Listen up, Kojima fans, because the long-overdue English translation to the popular game designer's 1994 Snatcher semi-sequel has finally arrived. This 15-year-in-the-making Policenauts localization is the work of a small group of fans, and is now being released to coincide with Hideo Kojima's 46th birthday. 

A North American Sega Saturn release was scheduled for 1996, but according to Kojima, work ceased on Konami's original port because developers were unable to sync English speech with the game's cutscene animations. A similar roadblock held up the fan translation, as the team searched for someone to insert the translated content into the game's code, only finding someone in August 2008 -- a year after the project had begun.

A patch for the PlayStation version is available now on the grou...

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Band Hero's first two guest stars are...

Band Hero, Activision's more family friendly entry into its Guitar Hero franchise, announced its first two guest stars from the music world. They are

Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5...

AND

Taylor Swift, country music star hailing from the great state of Pennsylvania.

While I'm not huge fans of either of them, they certainly make great additions to a game centered around pop music as opposed to heavy shredding.

Though I will admit, both of those renders look great, very close to the source material.

Pictures from worthplaying.com.

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Fable III revealed at Gamescom

Peter Molyneux got the party started at Microsoft's Gamescom press conference with a semi-surprise unveiling of Lionhead Studios' in-development sequel, Fable III. The game is scheduled to arrive on the Xbox 360 in 2010, and Molyneux promises big changes for the series' second installment on the console.

"The kingdom of Albion is changing. The land needs a ruler. King or queen. Cherished leader or ruthless tyrant. That future has not been written. The race for the crown has begun."

This narration of the teaser trailer shown at the conference explains the premise of the new game -- to play the role of Albion's newest ruler. "You are going to become the ruler of the whole of Albion. You've played in this land in Fable I; in Fable II you became a hero; this time, why not rule Albion? Why not...

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Scribblenauts toots its own horn in trailer

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has got a good thing on its hands in 5th Cell's DS puzzle adventure, Scribblenauts. Nearly everyone in the gaming press has fallen head-over-heels for the game (check out vs. Node #6 for proof), and WB wants you to know it. With the newest trailer, not only do we get to see some of the game's wildly imaginative gameplay, but also boatloads of accolades from numerous gaming publications. Like Babe Ruth said, "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up."

Click through to see the trailer.

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Brutal Legend demo coming next month

Anyone who's been chomping at the bit to get his or her hands on Tim Schafer's Brütal Legend won't have to wait much longer; Electronic Arts and Double Fine Productions have announced that a demo of the game will be arriving on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network sometime this September.

The heavy-metal-inspired action comedy game hits stores on October 13th, so this demo will offer players a full month's worth of TEASE before the real thing becomes available. Said Tim Schafer, President of Double Fine Productions, "We just couldn't wait. Villagers have surrounded our offices with torches, demanding the game. So we're releasing a demo and hope that this taste of metal will keep the mob at bay until Brütal Legend comes out this Rocktober."

As for a specific date to expect this demo... no su...

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Official: PS3 Slim in September, price drop tomorr...

We all knew it was coming, but now it's official. Sony president Kaz Hirai announced at Gamescom today that the PS3 Slim will be available the first week of September, and existing PlayStation 3 models will receive a price cut starting tomorrow, August 19th.

The new unit will cost $299 (€299, ¥29,980), and will be 33 percent smaller and 36 percent lighter than the current PS3 form factor. It will also consume 34 percent less power than its big brother, while maintaining most of the features already in place... including the absence of backwards compatibility. The internal hard drive capacity of the new model will be 120GB, and all PS3 Slim units will come pre-loaded with Sony's recent 3.0 firmware.

Missing from the Slim is the "Install Other OS" option, which allows users to put Linux ...

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PS3 price drop detector: Kmart and FYE ads

It's only a matter of time before the long-rumored, longer-awaited PlayStation 3 price drop becomes a reality. A pair of new clues popped up yesterday -- one at FYE and the other at Kmart -- further indicating the imminence of the retail mega-event.

FYE is preparing to adorn stores with plenty of red-tag signage, advertising a $100 price reduction for both the 80GB PS3 model (from $399 to $299) and the 160GB Uncharted bundle (from $499 to $399). Although a start date for this price change has not yet been revealed, employees have the posters in-hand, ready to be displayed to the eager public.

Kmart.com gives us more to go on, with a front page ad promising "The Rumors Are Reality" regarding a "New Exciting Playstation 3." (Does it matter that PlayStation is misspelled? Naaahhhhh.) This lin...

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No instruments, no problem with SingStar: Beatles

Let's face facts: more people love The Beatles than are interested in playing plastic pseudo-instruments. For those individuals, Electronic Arts, MTV Games, and Sony will be working together to deliver an instrument-free version of The Beatles: Rock Band this fall. Sources at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany have revealed that SingStar: Beatles will be hitting store shelves "within days" of The Beatles: Rock Band's September 9th release, exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console.

Like The Beatles: Rock Band, SingStar: Beatles will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, and is not meant to be a competitor to that high-profile game, but more of a toned-down alternative intended to deliver more Beatles to a wider audience. SingStar: Beatles will come bundled with Singstar m...

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LittleBigPlanet GOTY Edition boasts more content a...

According to an Amazon.com listing, Media Molecule's PS3-exclusivce hit LittleBigPlanet will be coming back to store shelves this fall.

The Game of the Year Edition will sell at 50 USD, $10 lower than the original release, and boasts "Bonus Content valued at over $30."

Though the phrase "valued at" makes most of us scratch our heads and wonder what exactly will be added, the lower price and extra content will surely sway any gamers who are on the fence to buy such a terrific game, one can only hope.

No information on a release date, but GN will update as more information becomes available.

[Amazon]

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New Left 4 Dead campaign "Crash Course" announced...

Containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash Course" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns.

It's targeted for release in September and bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and a frantic finale.

According to an article at Destructoid, whose author was the first person outside of Valve to play the DLC, the helicopter pilot who rescued the survivors on the roof of No Mercy hospital was infected. Apparently Bill, Louis, and Francis blame Zoey for the helicopter crashing because she shot the ...

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NPD says half of US population are gamers

The videogame industry is booming. According to the latest report from NPD Group, over half of the population of the United States -- 169.9 million out of 304 million, or just under 56% -- is now comprised of gamers. That's a 4.3 million-player increase since last year.

The 2009 Gamer Segmentation Report breaks down the US gamer population into seven categories, the largest of which is the "Secondary Gamers" category, totaling 33.6 million. These are individuals (mostly female, according to the study) who play less than four hours per week and do not own a console. "Console Gamers" (mostly male this time), who own at least one game system and play roughly 12 hours per week come in a close second at 32.9 million.

Other groups named in the report include "Heavy Portable Gamers" (30 million), ...

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